Taipei has welcomed an invitation to attend an annual Chinese cultural conference in Hong Kong in December, describing the offer as a goodwill gesture from Beijing.

But analysts said this did not mean Beijing would resume political exchanges or talks with the island, links that were suspended in June last year when Tsai Ing-wen took over as Taiwan’s president.

Chang Tieh-chih, deputy secretary general of the General Association of Chinese Culture, confirmed on Saturday that he had been invited to take part in the City-to-City Cultural Exchange Conference, organised this year by the Hong Kong Institute of Contemporary Culture.

“I have attended the forum at least three times before,” Chang said, adding he would be asked to chair a panel or review papers presented during the forum.

Sidney Lin, a spokesman for Taiwan’s Presidential Office, said the invitation was a goodwill gesture from Beijing.

“We hope that through civilian exchanges, the two sides will be able to resolve their misunderstanding,” Lin said.

He also called for Beijing to remove the “political barrier” it has imposed since June 2016.

But Wang Kung-yi, a political science professor at Chinese Culture University, said Chang was invited to the forum because it was a city-level event.

“Also, Beijing has not suspended civilian cultural and academic exchanges with Taiwan. It would be a wishful thinking for the Tsai government to see this as an easing in the cross-strait stalemate,” Wang said.